Collier County crime rate drops to 46-year low

FORT MYERS, Fla. Collier County’s crime rate reached a 46-year-low in 2016, Sheriff Kevin Rambosk said Thursday.

The crime rate, which dropped by 5 percent over 2015, measures the number of offenses reported per 100,000 people.

“Our community partnerships and the professional work of our deputies day in and day out have allowed us to maintain the enviable status of consistently having the lowest crime rate of any metropolitan county in the state,” he said.

The 2016 rate is the lowest since the agency began tracking the figure in 1971, the sheriff’s office said.

The numbers, which were submitted to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, represent crimes in unincorporated Collier County and Everglades City. The statistics show Part 1 Crimes, including homicide, sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny and motor vehicle theft.

Sex assault crimes dropped by the largest margin, with a 35 percent decrease, from 100 crimes in 2015 to 65 in 2016, according to sheriff’s office data.

Burglaries decreased by 12.4 percent, from 847 crimes to 742.

Three categories saw increases. Aggravated assault went up 2.6 percent, from 685 in 2015 to 703 in 2016; robbery grew 1.8 percent, from 163 to 166; and homicide increased from two to seven. Arrests have been made in connection with six of the 2016 homicides.

The county’s 5 percent crime rate reduction was greater than the statewide decrease of 4.4 percent. Statewide crime was also at a 46-year-low in 2016, dropping 4.4 percent from 2015, the governor’s office said.